Let’s Check in with the Oil-Spill Senate Hearings, Shall We?

Today, executives from B.P., Transocean, and Halliburton are testifying before Senate energy and environmental committees about their companies’ involvement in the Gulf Coast oil spill and its subsequent ecological apocalypse. How’s this going for them? Not well—pun intended. Senator Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) summarized the proceedings thusly: “It’s like a bit of a Texas two step. Yes, we’re responsible, but BP says Transocean, Transocean says Halliburton.” Indeed: B.P. America president Lamar McKay said that drilling contractor Transocean “had responsibility for the safety of the drilling operations,” according to The New York Times. A representative from Transocean thinks otherwise, and so does an executive from Halliburton, who noted that Halliburton’s cementing work was authorized by B.P., and therefore B.P. is to blame.

In response to the game of responsibility hot potato, Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) told the grown adults to stop bickering. A stoppage—temporary or otherwise—of offshore drilling could mean that “not only will BP not be out there, but the Transoceans won’t be out there to drill the rigs and the Halliburtons won’t be out there cementing,” she said, urging the trio to work together, the Times reports. You can follow the rest of the day’s proceedings—and all the vague admonishments therein—on C-SPAN. Tune in later in the afternoon, when representatives from the companies will appear before the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, starring Barbara Boxer as “The Chairwoman.”